By: Niamh Hughes
Whether or not you consider yourself to be politically engaged, there is no escaping what is going on in the world thanks to Instagram stories. As activism for George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement rode off the coattails of the pandemic, where protesters were able to use social platforms as a substitute for in-person protests, there has been a veritable cornucopia of engaging ‘aesthetic’ posts featuring facts, statements, or statistics, with #BLM gaining over one million posts on Instagram.
The BLM movement would soon find company: issues such as gender violence, elections, and global conflicts have deservedly gained unprecedented levels of awareness, mobilising large audiences and democratising information. It seems that in 2024, the days of aesthetic escapism within social media are gone, as even celebrities increasingly use posts to show their support for certain issues, fervently educating myself and others, sometimes simply through accidental exposure, on ‘how to be a better ally’, or ‘previous examples of police brutality in the US’, among others.
I definitely feel suspicious seeing celebrities who have never spoken out on such issues before suddenly repost the same images as my peers, as if obliged or recommended by management. These have included the AI generated graphic, ‘All Eyes on Rafah’, referring to the Gazan city holding Palestinian refugees while facing airstrikes. Celebrities and influencers are provided with the perfect PR solution: capitulating to public demand on spreading awareness about ‘sticky political discussions’ in a neat, aesthetic little package, then to move on with their ‘business as usual’ stories after 24 hours (or less).
Do these posts promote a form of shallow activism? Or are they truly trying to do their own research and make active efforts to effect meaningful change? For those who did such research, they would know that what was shared did not accurately show the scale of the atrocities occurring. Perhaps for these celebrities it is simply not enough to ‘watch’ what was happening in Rafah, especially if they can actively do something in their power to help.
Justin Bieber’s brief stint into activism proves to be a cautionary tale. In October last year, Justin Bieber took to social media, posting the first picture of a slideshow by Christian group @churchome, stating “‘Pray for Israel”’ – over an image of buildings ruined within the Gaza Strip – for millions of his followers to see. The background image was removed soon after receiving intense backlash. This example not only exposes the superficial nature of his ‘activism’, but also showcases infographics’ worrying potential to misinform through inaccuracy— – and fast. A study by MIT found false news stories are 70% more likely to be retweeted than true stories, causing them to travel faster; it would not be surprising if the same is true on Instagram, the source of social justice infographics. Moreover, Bieber’s behaviour is indicative of an underlying sentiment many feel today: the peer pressure to constantly advocate for something and ‘check their privilege’ as the world’s top 1%, yet feel no compulsion to research beyond the Instagram post. It is not difficult to imagine how lethal this combination of factors can be.
Over the past year, I have glazed over countless brightly coloured infographics on both sides of the Israel-Palestine conflict, asking ‘Who to believe?’ and ‘What is happening in Israel?’, then proceeding to answer with a virtually absolute answer, rarely providing balanced views or demonstrating nuance. With such a deep history to the conflict, condensing these kinds of contentious issues into a maximum of 20 pictures on an Instagram carousel is not enough, let alone an answer that (even without doing external research) I know could be wrong.
I remember asking a friend why she had made the decision to repost an infographic posted by the official IDF Instagram page following the October 7 attacks, innocuously titled “What’s going on between Gaza and Israel?”. The person on the infographic (wearing an IDF uniform) responded: “Since Monday, terrorist organizations in Gaza have been attacking Israel with thousands of rockets.”. More worryingly, the same person on the infographic said that “‘they had no desire to harm civilians in Gaza”’. When you factor in the fact that the infographic was originally posted in 2021, it is clear how egregiously misinforming infographics can be. . She admitted to me that she did not quite understand the history behind the war, but had “seen friends share it and felt obliged”. While I understand that her actions came from a need to take a stance and ‘do the right thing’, she nonetheless fell victim to misinformation, or rather an intentional omission of information, as well as failing to recognise the date it was originally posted— – something you would only notice if you clicked on the repost itself. She was not taking in informative or accurate data, but instead one side of a major conflict.
With this harrowing potential in mind, it is clear that we collectively need to further examine the content of the infographics we come across. It is easy to get caught up in the rush of reading and reposting over fear of not ‘speaking out’, but I believe that it is equally as vital to give oneself time to process, learn, and come to individual conclusions—-–all of which do not necessarily have to be showcased on social media. While infographics can be a succinct way of gaining ‘fast information’, this ‘fast information’ can also quickly out-circulate infographics with relatively unbiased information, culminating in the present problematic climate where the algorithm can make these posts increasingly sensationalist and polarising.
I am certainly not calling for silence here—it is definitely important to use one’s platform to shine light on social injustices others may not be aware of. However, if one wishes to use their platform to advocate for social issues, individual research (to the best of their ability) must accompany the use of any infographics they choose to repost. Instead of being the only form of news one seeks out or a source of confirmation bias, infographics should be seen as a valuable entrance into activism, a springboard to spread more well-informed opinions. After all, an eye-popping statistic, fact, photo, or slogan (let alone a misinformed one) can only take you so far. If you take activism seriously, Instagram infographics should not be perceived as a critical conversation, and should certainly not be a ‘quick fix’ at the click of a button for meaningful change.
